Personality Disorder Initiative (PDI)

Spectrum’s innovative statewide Personality Disorder Initiative (PDI) partnership commenced in 2019, thanks to funding from the Victorian Department of Health. Since its inception, the primary goal of the PDI partnership is to improve access to effective treatments for Victorians living with a personality disorder through local capacity-building, addressing stigma and increasing responsiveness of the mental health system within six PDI partner health services – Alfred Health, Barwon Health, Goulburn Valley Health, Monash Health, Northern Health, and Forensicare.

Through the PDI, Spectrum has supported the development of local personality disorder specialist clinicians at these sites, providing regular training and clinical supervision. The specialist clinicians in turn deliver quality training to colleagues and treatment to consumers to visit their service. In 2022, over 1,000 clinicians have been trained within these services and over 300 secondary consultations have been completed.

The unique and innovative approaches developed by each partner health service highlights the success of embedding a model of care for consumers who experience personality disorder.

In a 2022 review of the PDI, Dr Neil Coventry, Chief Psychiatrist for Victoria, praised each of the services and acknowledged the PDI for successfully meeting its objectives, stating that 'it has been the best investment the Department has made'.

The success of the PDI demonstrates the effectiveness of using an approach that enables the creation of adaptable models of care for delivering high quality treatments, secondary consultation, and staff training to thousands of clinicians. This approach clearly shows how thoughtful and sustained work across the public mental health sector can create vital cultural change leading to greater service awareness, clinician capability, and better care of Victorians living with a personality disorder.